The Republican journal., 1887-10-20
Thirty People Killed.
RAILROAD ACCIDENT IN INDIANA. PAS
SENGER TRAIN WRECKED BY FAST
FREIGHT.

A RAILROAD ACCIDENT IN INDIANA. PAS
sENGER TRAIN WRECKED BY FAST
FREIGHT.
kOUTs, Ind, Oct IL. The worst horrors Of
Chatsworth were duplicated here to-day. A
dozen blood-stained smoke-bcgrimed, injured
victims of railroad carelessness or blundering
Were brought into the little station early this
morning, and this afternoon charred corpses
were laid upon the platform, while three miles
west, down the track of the Chicago and At
lantic Railway, near lonely old water tank,
piles of fearfully mangled debris marked the
spot where a collision seldom equalled for ter
rible results had occurred. According to the
best estimate obtainable, for only an estimate
was possible, fully thirty human lives had been
sacrificed outright, and half that number of
persons had suffered injuries more or less SER
ious.
The eastbound express that left Chicago last
night with great load of passengers, had,
without n moments warning, during a tenn
porary stop, been smashed into from behind
by fast freight train loaded with dressed
meat for the markets Of the seaboard. Some
part of the machinery of the passenger engine
had been thrown out of order during the run
from Chicago. A trifing stop at the water
tank would make it all right, it was thought,
and the stop was accordingly made. Suddenly
out of the darkness behind came the flash of a
headlight, the rush and rattle of many wheels
and then mighty crash. The sleeping coach
was pushed mcrcilessly forward and crushed
into the cars ahead, smashing their compara-
lively light tmbers. The work of destruction
was complete, when the wreck quickly took
fire.
THE PASSENGER ENGINEER'S STORY.
This morning, surrounded by an eager group
of qucstioners at the hotel In Kouts the en-
gineer of the passenger train told the follow
ing story of the terrible disaster:
''Wc passed No. 40 at Boone Grove on time
and started toward kouts. No. 40 pulled out
of the station in less than two minutes behind
us. when they should have waited much long
er. When we were well away from the town,
we could see her lights but a little way behind.
We were not running very fast because the
engine was 'on one sidc." We had broken an
of wheels. having been forced to dsconnect
the other pair Of wheels which were running
loose. OF course, the accident held our speed
down a little, but we had no idea that the ell
gineer of No. 40 would have any difficulty in
keeping off from our heels. The last time
looked behind there was ample room between
us. we stopped ut the Boone Grove water
tank and We're there almost minute before
they struck U.S."
This afternoon there was little in the aspect
of the village to indicate the calamity that had
so recently taken place. AL the dead bodies
had been carefully removed from sight. only
two Of the wounded were still in the village,
and the local employees of the road were deaf
and dumb to all seekers after Information. The
coroner had been obliged to 60 to Huntington,
over fifty miles distant. to obtain the state
mentS OF witnesses. and the Villagers seemed
wholly at sea regarding the extent OF the dis
aster.
About the only person willing TO tell the de-
tails of the horror was DIR. w. c. Mckee. He
had promptly responded in the dead of night
l..
OF the wreck three miles from his home. DR..
Mckee had scant time to give Lis expert
ence in detail but stated that to the hest of his
| knowledge it would not be overseeing the
facts to say that the collision had cost .he lives
of fully thirty people. 1t was shortly after
o'clock this morning when he reached the
wreck, and he Immediately began to give his
services to the wounded. Those who were
badly hurt when the crash came. he SAYS, must
have had little chance for their lives, so quick
y did the cars take fire and so thorough was
the work of the flames.
A FAMILY ALL But WIPED OUT.
As an Illustration of the destruction and the
difficulty of arriving at correct idea of its
| magnitude, the doctor said that probably not a
soul would have been made aware of the all
but total wiping out of the Miller family of
six. had not their boy been saved Doctor
Mckee stated that only nine bodies had been
recovered, and they We're so badly charred as
TO be almost beyond recognition. The nine
were as follows:
Miller Mr., of Dundee.
Miller Mrs, wife of above.
Miller, the daughter, a young girl
Miller a son.
Miller. another son.
Perry, William, of North Julson, Ind, Audi
tor of Stark County.
Perry. Mrs, wife of above.
Perry. a girl. aged eleven, the daughter.
Young Irish woman, name unknown.
Another of the Miller boys is likely to die
NO FLAGMAN WAS SENT BACK.
Superintendent Parsons, of the Chicago and
Atlantic, was seen late in the afternoon gloom
lily pacing the station platform. He was eX-
tremcly taciturn, and sure that no more bodies
could be found under the wreck. Only nine
persons had been killed. he declared. and not
more than twelve hurt, none of the latter
seriously. He admitted that no 1lagman had
been sent back from the passenger train when
a stop was made Mr.. Parsons said that the
trainmcn depended upon a somaphore light
the stop was made. The conductor of the train
had pulled the cord for this light when he step
ped from his train. This would throw the
glare of red danger signal on the track. The
night, however, was foggy. and the engineer of
the fast freight must have failed to see the sig
nal. Superintendent Parsons thought the acci-
| dent would have been very ordinary one had
not the stove in the sleeper upset That caused
the destruction of the sleeper, two coaches and
baggage-car, and in the main was doubtless the
cause OF the loss of life.
Coroner Leatherman. Mr.. Parsons said,
reaching the scene from Valparaiso about II 80
! a. m, and after viewing the debris and making
some inquiries, had found it necessary to 90 to
huntington in search of witnesses. The wound
ed, MIR. Parsons explained. had been taken
there as early as possible. and the passengers
who were unhurt. to the numbers of twenty
five. had hppn forWarlnI n their Ia Sfin1 nm
without delay.
In the little sitting room of the cottage which
serves as a hotel in this town, two of the wound
ell survivors of the accident still remained late
this afternoon. Herman Miller, Bohemian
boy on his way from Dundee. ILL.,, to the old
country, is stretched on the one lounge in the
low, dark room. His head is fcarfulIy battered
and his right leg is fractured.
WATCHING TIE FLAMES CREEP TOWARD HIM.
The other wounded man Is Joseph McCool, a
bartender of Boston. His injuries are for the
most part internal and are not so severe that
his recovery is impossible. He was able to tell
of the awful occurrence as follows:
II was in the passenger coach which was
next to the last car in the train. just before
midnight went into the smoker, which was
Just ahead OF our car, and chatted for an hour.
and came back to the coach with a young man
who sat down near me. That is the last I've seen
or expect to see of the poor fellow. just as
| most before | closed my eyes, there was an aw-
full crash which, God help me, never want to
hear again. | could feel myself thrown vio-
lenty toward the top of the car and then | be-
came insensible. On the way up / realized that
all was confusion in the car; that canes valises,
rods of iron and lamps were in the air about
me. | must have regained my consciousness
in short time, for when awoke all was dark
ness in the car and horrible shrieks and pierre
ing walls of agony almost deafened my ears.
In the end of the ear furthest from me the
stove was overturned and the flames We're just
starting to spread with magic rapidity. There
was some sort of new gas lamp in the car
with reservoirs reaching from one to the other.
The flames leaped up the sides, and In less time
than can tell it the gas was burning the whole
length of the coach over our heads.
was wedgcd in between two seats where
couldn't move a limb of my body, and there
| watched the fire slowly creep upon me- 1t was
a terrible sight. In the end of the coach near
the fire l could see a lady caught between the
seats as | was. The fire slowly crept across
the car; she was soon enveloped in flames, and
then in agony she burned before my eyes. Just
across from my seat | noticed soon before the
accident father, his wife and daughter. l saw
them, also, crushed together and burned. Just
as the flames were blazing foot or two away
from me a man pulled me into the isle and
said: "Come to the window" He must have
mistaken me for some one else, for the moment
he had looked closely at my face he dropped me
and hurried through the window with an en-
cla,natjon Of evident lisonno;ntmeut ! thon